I'm sick of changing water weekly

[kimo]

I change my water when IT needs it. Sometimes 10%, sometimes 20%... monthly.
I do not have a test kit as I do not need one. After 35+ years of maintaining tanks (including an LFS) I use the plants and fish as indicators of what is going on in the tank. As long as you never overcrowd or overfeed you will never have a problem.
I also isolate any new fish for at least 3 weeks, plants 10-14 days to make sure there is no disease introduced. Since I moved 12 yrs ago my 150g has been torn down once and that was to go back to fresh from salt water. The plants are growing great and there has never been any sign of disease.

 

[xIHaKIx]

I had my tank up for atleast a few months now, never did changed the water. Tell you the truth I think the fish are doing way better without a water change

 

[tetra25624]

Old Tank Syndrome

A tomgriffin artical thats still online...

www.tomgriffin.com/aquasource/oldtanksyndrome.shtml+aquasource+tomgriffin+Old+Tank+Syndrome&hl=en&lr=lang_en%20target=nw]Google has it cashed[/url]

Thanks so much! Great stuff.

I do 10% on Saturdays with an every other week filter cleaning.

 

[coyotesweat]

LOL, I have a 29 gal. with 4 dwarf rainbows, 1 Boesmani rainbow, 7 neons, 2 cories and one algae eater, plus one dwarf gourami. Change out one big bucket per week (about 6 gallons). test for ammonia only, after the tank first cycled, it's been testing at zero.

Outside, i have a container garden in a 25 gallon planter with dwarf papyrus, some water plants, and a small water lily. It has 7 rosey red minnows in it to eat the mosquito larvae, plus I give 'em some fish food occasionally. I never have changed the water, just add more if the level goes down. (rainwater adds itself). The minnows, tough little boogers that they are, are growing big, fat & sassy. No filtration or added aeration, either.

I cycled my tank by bringing in some of the minnows...they survived the cycle just fine, then I put 'em back outside once I had some of my "real" aquarium fish in there. Pretty good for 12 cent fish! (From Petsmart's feeder tank).

Coyotesweat

 

[greenmaji]

you might want to consider testing for NO3/nitrate.. did you read any of the OTS articals posted above xIHaKIx?

 

[kimo]

If the tank is heavily planted you shouldn't have to worry too much about nitrates.

 

[CompMage]

In my Unplanted tanks. I change the water as follows.
10 Gallon Tank = 2 Gallons on Friday night, and 1 on Tuseday night
55 Gallon Tank(Girl friends) = 10 gallons once a week on sundays.

In my planted tanks. I change the water as follows.
10 Gallon Tank = 1 gallon if that on friday nights
55 Gallon Tank = 4 gallons on Friday nights

On my unplanted tanks, I've always been kind of crazy and change about 2g in my 10G and 10 in my girlfriends 55G Every sunday. Now that my 55G is planted I change out just enough to lower the water so it will not overflow when I'm cleaning the walls of the tank. Then fill it up. I might change about 20% of the water every other week in my planted tank, but as as Kimo said, in a planted tank nitrates are rarely a problem. In my planted tank they almost never register. The water in my aquarium is almost always better then what's on tap!

 

[gecko]

My situation's possibly a little different from most here as I'm totally reliant on rain water ..... my aquarium is high enough to gravity feed the toilet flush cystern on the other side of the wall (takes a moment to fill however) and the aquarium tops up after every flush........been in place for 12 mths now and never had a water quality problem and the fish seem to be thriving........I'd show a pic as my description is as clear as mud but this newbie hasn't figure that out yet

Before anyone gets out of shape I should add it's a fairly big wall tank

 

[Pearlgirl]

Gecko, do you need to heat your tank? How do you clean a tank that size? What type of fish do you have? Oh so many questions.

 

[gecko]

Heating I do occasionally depending on whats in the tank.....native fish have no need of heating but cooling is an issue as temps reach into the 40deg C here.......so this aquarium has a thermostatically controlled pump that circulates water through black poly pipe coiled up in the bottom of a 7000gal rainwater storage tank ........this seems to have alleviated the problem without using a refridgerated system.
I see you have asked about 'winterizing' ponds .......maybe thats where I should have put this post.....as I can see this 'circulating water' for temp control being used in some instances to stop freezing of ponds.

 

[Pearlgirl]

That is surely quite a set up you must have Gecko. I have been thinking about wrapping my circulating hose,that is in the pond, with heat tape,( not in the water of course) It is the kind that is used for plumbing, which is also thermostatically controlled. the volume of water in my pond is about 50 gallons so the tape would make it more economical for me. De-icers can be quite costly.

 

[gecko]

De-icers must be hungry for power being that the pond is so exposed to the elements.........do you use insulation blankets on your ponds in areas where it get's icey ???

Maybe a Mod could move this whole conversation to the correct thread before we get in the poo
.........I'll figure this forum out yet!